04/02/09, 01:32 PM
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Alberta Farmgirl
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Alberta, Canada (Not the USA!)
Posts: 903
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Quote:
Originally Posted by agmantoo
Karin L
My research and your generalized statement above do not agree. Research has proven that cattle can and do suffer from vitamin B1/thiamine deficiencies and the consequences are severe. Mycowlilly, you do need to feed your cattle a vitamin and mineral supplement an in loose form IMO. Here is a link for you to read.
Health Management: Polioencephalomalacia or Thiamine Deficiency |
Agman, this link is for feedlot cattle on concentrate feed...like grain and such. I don't see anything here where cows on a hay/grain/grass diet will be thiamine deficient. And I doubt if Lilly is on a concentrate diet, from reading MCL's previous posts and questions. I'll admit my comment was general, but if you seen the time that I wrote it you could probably understand why. 
Here's a quote from the article you sourced:
Quote:
Introduction
Polioencephalomalacia (polio) is a noninfectious disease of cattle characterised by reduced feed intake, impaired vision, muscle tremors and incoordination, head pressing against inanimate objects, grinding of teeth, groaning, convulsions and recumbency. There are two basic forms of the disease; 1) the acute form sporadically seen in feedlot cattle where affected animals are frequently found in a coma and 2) the mild or subacute form sporadically seen in animals on pasture. The incidence of the disease in Alberta is rather low (1.7 - 6.6%) (3). However, the death rate can be high (90%) in the acute case with death occurring in about 50% of the affected animals within a few days of the disease. In the subacute form, mortality is about 50%. Animals with the subacute form may recover completely or may never be completely better in terms of their low average daily gain.
Thiamin Deficiencies and Polio in Cattle
The B vitamin thiamin has two major roles in the metabolism of feedlot cattle. As thiamine pyrophosphate it is important in carbohydrate usage in the body of cattle. Thiamin is also believed to be an essential factor in the central nervous system, participating in the excitation of peripheral nerves. For the feedlot cattle, there are two sources of thiamin: 1) thiamin from the feed (both natural and supplemental) and 2) thiamin synthesized by the microorganisms in the rumen. Cereal grains and oil seed meals are comparatively rich in thiamin although about 40-70% of the thiamin from these sources is lost if they are stored for about a year.
The concept that B vitamins were microbially synthesized in the rumen and could meet the ruminant animals’ requirements was generally accepted up to about the 1950’s. However, from the early 1950’s, cattle have been pushed to higher and higher levels of production, being finished faster by changes in diets and by the addition of ration additives which would be expected to change the requirements for the B vitamins (4).
Inadequate amounts of thiamin in the rumen
The concept that there may be inadequate amounts of thiamin synthesized in cattle is only a theoretical concept at this time. Blood and Radostits (2) reported in their book that in theory there may be inadequate amounts of thiamin in the rumen if bacterial production is hindered as may be the case in cattle fed high amounts of concentrate with inadequate roughage. Indeed, considerable evidence seems to point to the fact that there is an inverse relationship between amount of thiamin synthesized in the rumen and the amount of thiamin contained in the diet. This has led to suggestions that the rumen microorganisms do not synthesize thiamin unless required or they degrade excess thiamin (1).
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Of course, Lilly does need mineral and vitamins like all cattle...But like I said, MCL's concerns about B vitamins shouldn't be like they are if Lilly has access to fresh feed in the form of hay, grass and grain that hasn't been stored for about a year. And, again, this deficiency might be also variable with location: it's rare up here in Alberta, but where you are or she is might be different. Plus, like quoted above, thiamine deficiency is more believed to be linked with high concentrate finisher diets for feedlot cattle than for cattle on a diet similar to Lilly's. The subacute form is less of a cause for concern than the acute form, although like I said vitamin and mineral supplementation is important nonetheless.
SoI'm still standing by my argument in my first post.
Last edited by Karin L; 04/02/09 at 01:42 PM.
Reason: additional things.
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Vitamin B Question
